Yanez-Mata, 26, is scheduled to face a deportation hearing Thursday in
Charlotte
. She’s a native of
Mexico
who has lived in the
United States
for eight years.

“She did nothing wrong,” said Jose Rico, a member of the N.C. Dream Team, a pro-immigration group that’s taken up Yanez-Mata’s cause. Rico served as interpreter for Yanez-Mata who doesn’t speak English.

“She just wanted to come here and get cable services for her daughter,” Rico continued.

Problems for Yanez-Mata began July 30 when she went to Time Warner offices. There is some debate as to exactly how it happened, but while trying to register for cable service, Yanez-Mata presented a fake Social Security card. She acknowledged Tuesday the card was fraudulent, one she had used in the past pertaining to work.

A Time Warner employee alerted an off-duty
Burlington
police officer working security for the company that Yanez-Mata had presented a fake Social Security card. An on-duty officer was called to the offices. Yanez-Mata was led outside the business, handcuffed and charged with obtaining property by false pretense, a felony.

Yanez-Mata, 26, is scheduled to face a deportation hearing Thursday in Charlotte. She’s a native of Mexico who has lived in the United States for eight years.

“She did nothing wrong,” said Jose Rico, a member of the N.C. Dream Team, a pro-immigration group that’s taken up Yanez-Mata’s cause. Rico served as interpreter for Yanez-Mata who doesn’t speak English.

“She just wanted to come here and get cable services for her daughter,” Rico continued.

Problems for Yanez-Mata began July 30 when she went to Time Warner offices. There is some debate as to exactly how it happened, but while trying to register for cable service, Yanez-Mata presented a fake Social Security card. She acknowledged Tuesday the card was fraudulent, one she had used in the past pertaining to work.

A Time Warner employee alerted an off-duty Burlington police officer working security for the company that Yanez-Mata had presented a fake Social Security card. An on-duty officer was called to the offices. Yanez-Mata was led outside the business, handcuffed and charged with obtaining property by false pretense, a felony.

The criminal charge against Yanez-Mata was dropped Tuesday by the AlamanceCounty district attorney’s office. The deportation measures persist, which advocates for Yanez-Mata say is wrong. She had no criminal record prior to her July arrest and while in the United States illegally, she is not a problem, they said. Her daughter is a legal U.S. citizen.

“Someone doing nothing but being undocumented, that’s not who we need to spend our resources on,” said Julie Budd of Fairness Alamance, one of the rally attendees.

She said the matter is, in part, one of economics.

“We don’t need them hiding, not spending their money,” Budd said.

Chris Verdeck, assistant chief of the Burlington Police Department, said officers don’t target immigrants to determine if they’re living in the United States without proper documentation.

“It’s not something we go out looking for,” he said. “We target criminals. If they break the law, we act.”

In a news release, Scott Pryzwansky, a Time Warner spokesman, referred to Yanez-Mata’s arrest and possible deportation as “an unfortunate coincidence of events.” He said when customers establish service with the company, they are asked for a form of identification to avoid identity theft. Pryzwansky said the Social Security card Yanez-Mata presented appeared altered.

“It is not our policy to share this kind of information with law enforcement and this action was not following any Time Warner Cable procedure or direction given from any Time Warner Cable employee,” he said. “TWC did not refer Ms. Yanez-Mata to either the countyprosecutor or Homeland Security and did not request prosecution. We had reached out to the prosecutor and were working closely with Ms. Yanez-Mata’s criminal attorney, as TWC never had any interest in charges being brought against her.”

Members of the Dream Team dispute some of Time Warner’s statements, saying the officer who first checked Yanez-Mata’s Social Security card wrote in a police report that he investigated the matter while working security for the cable firm and at the request of a customer service representative.

At the rally, supporters of Yanez-Mata asked Time Warner officials to call immigration officials to ask that deportation measures be halted. They also asked supporters to call immigration officials as well as Sen. Kay Hagan.

Asked if she’d take her daughter back to Mexico with her if she was deported, Yanez-Mata, speaking through her interpreter, said she would. At one point she broke down and cried.